A good question.
However, I would pose several other questions. Is The Pirates of the Caribbean really rooted in the classic age of piracy? Is 1690 the correct setting in time? How was 1690 arrived at in the developement of the Build? I vaguely remember the Stock POTC being set in 1665 or thereabouts. Or is that SLiB?
Consider the following:
-If this game was Sea Dogs 2 (as originally intended) then it would be reasonable to assume a mid 17th century setting. Sea Dogs 1 was 1600, or was it 1630?
-The game is POTC though, based on the movie of the same name. After all we have The Black Pearl as part of the main quest, undead sailors and natives, and with a bit of modding Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, Barbossa, etc. skins.
-Unless I'm missing something, there is more to suggest that the movie is set in the mid to late 18th century, rather than the late 17th century. Here are some examples:
1. The Blue Ensigns on the ships were in use between 1707 and 1800.
2. Officers and sailors appear to have standard uniforms reasonably consistant (if somewhat stylised) with the late 18th century. Standard officer uniforms were introduced in 1748, and although there was no actual standard uniform for sailors, a degree of uniformity of dress was demanded by many captains of the late 18th century.
3. Commodore Norrington is wearing the Medal of the Order of Bath. This order was founded by George I in 1725.
4. Look carefully at HMS Dauntless. It mounts carronades. Carronades were introduced in 1779.
It is quite possible that POTC remains deliberately vague about it's setting in time. To me there are a number of elements to suggest the later part of the 18th century and not much at all to suggest 1690. I maybe mistaken but the HMS Dauntless has more of an 18th century look to it. Somebody mentioned elsewhere on this forum (something outside my sphere of knowledge) that ships wheels weren't a common feature until the 18th century. The Dauntless and Interceptor have them.
As I mentioned before, I'd be interested to know how 1690 was chosen as the start date for the Build. Was it just naturally assumed that POTC was set in the 17th century. Remember that Sea Dogs 2 would have been set in the 17th century, however, many things were left incomplete, bugs remained, etc, when Disney took over and rushed it out. Is it not possible that they forgot to change the date of the setting? If somebody can find any background information regarding when the movie is set then that'd be great...then we'd all know. If it is late 17th century well then that means the Build setting is correct. But that also means there are substantial irregularities in the movie on which the game is based. Do we accept irregularities for the game? Do we allow a similar level of license? If not then many elements would need to be taken out of the Build as it is and has been for some time, the already existing British Naval Uniforms and carronades just to name a couple off the top of my head.
Either way it's easy for me to rationalise the inclusion of late 18th century elements based on it's relationship to the movie-
a) The setting is in fact late 18th century, no probs, or b) The setting is 1690 with a large amount of license to allow for many anachronistic elements as mentioned above.
Cheers mates <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/par-ty.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

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